Seduction
by GriffinStar
Summary: What happened between Martin and Louisa that evening after the end of S5 E8 when James Henry was safely tucked up in his cot ...


**Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of ****Buffalo**** Pictures. I own nothing except my overactive imagination.**

_With thanks to LG for her help as always._

**Seduction**

As I walked into the bedroom after taking a shower, Martin was standing looking in the cot where our son was sleeping peacefully, seemingly none the worse after his dramatic outing with Mrs Tishell. I was wrapped just in a towel, completely naked underneath.

I went over and stood next to him. I stretched up to whisper in his ear.

"Make love to me Martin."

I needed him to take me in his arms, to hold me, to let me know that he still found me a desirable, sexy woman. I needed to know that he wasn't staying with me just because of our son, that he still wanted me in the way that he had on those few wonderful occasions that we had made love before– occasions that seemed to be part of another existence now.

I was worried, because in the weeks that we'd lived together after James Henry had been born, he'd not so much as touched me, apart from one brief touch of my cheek, and that had been purely out of sympathy for how upset my mother had made me.

We may have shared the same bed, but it had not been in any way romantic. Between our son deciding that he didn't believe in sleeping, and the dreadful pyjamas that Martin wore tightly buttoned up, seemingly as some sort of night time version of the suits that he wore every day, there had been no contact between us.

At first I had been far too exhausted – and sore – to think about any kind of a resumption of our love life, but as time went on I found it strange that he showed no sign at all of being attracted to me as he used to be. In the old days, I'd always been pretty confident that I could seduce Martin, and had spent quite a few nights fantasising about it. I had not been disappointed when finally we had made love for the first time. It had been wonderful, he was a very good lover, and he had made me feel so special. And I desperately wanted to feel like that again with him.

Of course being heavily pregnant, and then newly delivered, meant that seduction had not been an option recently.

But even when I had the all clear after my post natal check up, Martin showed no interest. All he did was point out that I still had a few pounds to lose. That, and his total lack of communication, his complete lack of understanding of the concept of being part of a couple had finally come to a head when he'd booked our son's christening without even mentioning it to me, and I just couldn't take it any more. I walked out and went to stay with my mother, who was living in the cottage that I had kept on, having originally thought that I would be returning there when Martin went off to London.

And Martin just let me go. He didn't argue or try to persuade me to stay or attempt to come after me. He didn't fight for me, and I assumed it was because he was probably relieved, relieved to get his tidy and orderly life back that James and I had turned upside down. He could safely go and live in his pristine, brilliant white flat in London and become the surgeon that he was meant to be again.

I felt a fool then for having braved Mrs Tishell's comments when I'd bought a box of condoms after my post natal check, to make sure that we would be prepared this time. Actually I had quite enjoyed winding her up as I'd asked her for a jumbo box of large size condoms.

"Buying them for a friend are you? Can't be for you, you've just had a baby," she'd said as she'd sniffed her disapproval.

At the time I had not understood her antagonism towards me, which had been very pronounced ever since I'd returned to the village heavily pregnant. Of course all had now become clear since the events that had unfolded earlier in the day. The woman was barmy, deluded, imagining Martin in love with her and sending her secret messages.

"No, Martin asked me to get them actually," I had lied to her.

"Oh no doubt to top up his supplies for the surgery," Mrs Tishell had pronounced.

"No, they're for his _personal_ use, so make sure you charge them to his _personal _account won't you? And can I just check that these are definitely the _large_ size?" I'd said to her with a wicked smile. The look on her face had been priceless.

But of course the box of condoms had never been opened. There had never been an occasion when we had even come close to making use of them. The box had sat in my drawer as a constant reminder of the lack of any kind of a love life between us.

I began to wonder if Martin was one of those men who was hung up on the Madonna/whore conflict. Lord knows it seemed that he'd had such a horrid upbringing that anything was possible. He looked so sad in all his childhood pictures – no wonder he had not really wanted to look at them, not wanted to be reminded of those unhappy times. Even Ruth, clearly cut from the same Ellingham cloth as Martin with her rather brutal and sometimes insensitive comments, had mentioned about him not being happy at home.

So now I needed to know, to be sure, that when Martin had finally declared his love for me today, he didn't mean that he loved me for being the mother of his son – the son that he had become totally besotted with I now realised.

Much to my surprise, after initially being very unsure of how to deal with a new born baby, Martin had excelled himself, and had proved to be very good indeed with baby James. At first it had given me hope that I would see more of the sensitive, loving and kind man that I sometimes managed to catch a glimpse of.

On returning from my first evening out alone without the baby, my heart had melted as I'd seen him reading his medical journal to James, even showing him the picture. It had been so sweet, so touching, seeing James smiling up at his daddy. But Martin was still unable, it seemed, to reach out and communicate with me, to even pay me a tiny compliment or show me the smallest gesture of affection.

Mrs Tishell's psychotic episode today had frightened the hell out of both of us, but in the end had done us a huge favour because it had pushed Martin to finally make his declaration of love to me, and beg me for one last chance. But now I needed to be sure that our relationship was going to be a full and proper one before he gave up his plans to move back to London.

"Make love to me Martin," I repeated, as I put my arms around his neck and pulled him down to gently kiss him on the lips. One thing that I had worked out in the weeks that we had lived together, was that it was best to be direct with Martin, to tell him exactly what it was that I wanted, because he was absolutely clueless when it came to picking up subtle hints.

"Louisa, I…err…I'm not sure…"

Martin seemed taken aback and started to pull away from me, but I held on and didn't let him go. We had to get this sorted, establish how things were between us now.

"What aren't you sure about? Don't you want to make love with me?" I asked, as I studied his face intently.

"Yes, yes, _of __course_ I do…but isn't it a bit soon? I mean after the birth process? You've had some discomfort, I wouldn't want…you know…to hurt you," he tried to explain, and I could see genuine concern for me in his eyes. His eyes always gave him away, however gruff he tried to be. I could always read his true feelings in those soft blue eyes.

"Martin, that was weeks ago. You know I've had my post natal check up and everything was fine, no problems at all. You really needn't worry, honestly," I assured him. I reached up to kiss him again as I undid his jacket, slid it down over his shoulders, and tossed it onto the chair.

He nearly started to kiss me back, but then pulled away again.

"But Louisa, we haven't sorted out any kind of protection, and after last time…we can't take a risk again…" he protested.

I reached over to the bedside drawer next to me, pulled it open and produced the box of condoms.

"Taken care of. Brand new, highest quality. The most reliable it is possible to obtain."

This time, as I reached up to nuzzle his neck and ears, I managed to slip his tie off, and I could hear his breathing becoming more rapid, and he even groaned a little.

"Yes, but…the baby, what if he wakes up, surely we can't… you know while he's in here with us," Martin murmured, as I worked on unbuttoning his shirt and then pulled it out of his trousers to discard it.

"He's out sparko after his adventurous day. He won't know anything, he's just a baby. And he's actually a bit more settled, sleeps four hours at a time now at night. I think that should be long enough, don't you?"

Martin finally gave in and responded by pulling me close to him and kissing me, and as I started to undo his trousers, I was thrilled to find that he was most definitely turned on and ready for action.

"Oh God Louisa, do you have any idea how much I've longed for this?" he whispered as he kissed my neck, then worked his way down to kiss my bare shoulders. With a deft tug, he disposed of the towel that was barely covering me.

"You are so beautiful, so _very_ beautiful," he told me as gazed at me, and it felt incredibly erotic to see him looking at me in that way, and so I took his hand and led him over to the bed.

"Make love to me Martin," I whispered for the third time.

And finally he did.

**xXx**

Afterwards, as I lay wrapped up in Martin's arms, resting my head against his chest, my legs entwined with his, I didn't think it was possible to feel any happier. Now, we had that bond, that closeness, that only lovers do. I had been left in no doubt at all that I was still a desirable woman to Martin.

"I didn't hurt you at all did I?" Martin worried, but he had been so gentle and tender with me that there had been no problems at all.

"No, no, not at all. Is that why…why you kept your distance from me before, because you were worried?"

"Well yes, of course, I couldn't possibly expect you to…I thought the decent thing to do was to show some restraint. Bloody difficult when sharing a bed, but I felt I had to do the right thing."

"So it wasn't because you didn't fancy me then? I thought that you weren't interested because you thought that I was fat and ugly after having a baby."

"God no! But in order to keep my feelings in check, it was necessary to keep some sort of a barrier between us."

"Is that what those hideous pyjamas were all about? I really think you should bin them if you ever want us to have sex again Martin."

"What's wrong with them? I thought it prudent that I wore proper pyjamas, to prevent… you have such beautiful soft silky skin that if we touched…I am only human you know, but it just wouldn't have been right to make any demands on you."

"Maybe not at first, no. But there comes a point when a woman needs to know that she is still attractive. Keeping your distance just made me feel unloved and distinctly unsexy. You couldn't even bring yourself to pay me a compliment, to tell me that I looked nice."

"Louisa, you know I'm not very good with words, never have been."

"Yes, I do know. But I have to say that you excelled yourself with your words this afternoon though, didn't you? I truly thought I would never hear you say that you loved me, and that made me so sad. Go on, say it again now, please? Finish what you were going to say when that imbecile Joe interrupted us."

"Really Louisa, it's all a fuss over nothing. And anyway, I didn't hear you say anything back, you didn't make any declaration of love to me as I recall."

"That is true I suppose. So I shall tell you now. I love you Martin Ellingham. I have always loved you, and I will always love you."

"And I will always love you Louisa. That's what I was going to say. I will always love you, there will never be anyone else for me. There, was that alright?"

"Perfect Martin, that was just perfect."


End file.
